Tower Road, Newquay (ParkingEye)

KylesKeeper · 11 June 2017 at 11:35AM

Hi All,

I've recently returned home from holiday in Cornwall, parking in Tower Road car park during a visit to Newquay beach and have been greeted with a notice from ParkingEye for overstaying our welcome.

The letter claims we entered the car park at 11:40, our 4 hour ticket paid for from the parking machine is stamped with 11:50. The letter has us leaving the car park at 16:01, so we overstayed our welcome by 21 minutes in total.

We had grandparents with us in another car and they have received the letter also for their car so we are now facing a rather costly double bill.

We was slow to get away due to having our daughter in a pram with us that we had to drag over sand dunes and underestimated the distance from the beach.

Is it reasonable enough to appeal against this on grounds of a grace period or do we not have a leg to stand on?

waamo · 11 June 2017 at 11:39AM

There is a post at the top of this forum that advises Newbies to read it. It's one of the sticky threads. It contains a comprehensive guide to beating these tickets.

You will need to read it several times but it's worth it.

Redx · 11 June 2017 at 11:41AM

everyone has "a leg to stand on"

and yes CLAUSE #13 of the BPA CoP is one of many points you will put before popla

for now appeal online as KEEPER (separately) and copy and paste the blue text BPA appeal from the NEWBIES sticky thread

add an extra line that GRACE PERIODS under clause #13 apply and will be one of many appeal points used at POPLA if they dont cancel the charge

do each appeal separately

DO NOT reveal who the driver was

Coupon-mad · 11 June 2017 at 3:40PM

10 mins observation period at the start, getting out of the car and queuing to pay, having first of all safely removed an infant from the car and strapped her into a pram, is perfectly reasonable in this pebbly car park!

Then 11 minutes to actually strap the child into the car, put the pram down, pack it in the back with the bags etc., then change your beach shoes to be able to drive, then queue and weave out past pedestrians and then wait to leave onto the main road, is also perfectly reasonable, particularly if this was in May/June half term when it is very busy at that beach.

Submit the usual first appeal from the NEWBIES thread (both you and the Grandparents) same appeal, both ticking 'registered keeper' NOT ticking 'driver'. Tell them that NOW, tell them we know what we are doing.

Then once those first appeals are in (to get your POPLA codes, because PE won't cancel till second stage) search the forum for 'Tower Road POPLA Kelvin eleven minutes' and you find this one:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72342161#Comment_72342161

The only things you would need to tweak (at second stage, POPLA) are to remove and adapt a paragraph like this, which does not relate to your case:

This final 'grace' period alone, certainly took several minutes - but the car was not actually parked for over 4 hours at all. Given the popular and busy time of year for beach traffic and the badly-surfaced nature of this car park and the machines playing up with pound coins, an unproven (approximate, given the camera clocks not being synchronised nor exact to the second) eleven minutes all told either side of paid-for time is very clearly perfectly reasonable.

This captured photo shows how dark the car park was at the time of departure:

Photo of car departing car park in darkness

and replace that with:

So, the period before paying is defined by the BPA as an 'observation period', to drive in, park, read signs, decide whether to stay or leave and then to make payment at a machine.

This is separate from the end of parking 'grace period' and it is disingenuous of ParkingEye to pretend that a ten minute 'observation period' on arrival, then an 11 'grace period' somehow exceeds the mandatory minimum 'grace period' at the end of any parking event, given that the BPA formally agreed to amend in 13.4 of their CoP, in 2015, to at least ELEVEN minutes merely for the process of leaving a car park after expiry of paid-for time.

And that time depends on circumstances, which in this case involved a family group including grandparents and a baby in a pram, where it is clear that the time taken to put up the pram at the start, and at the end, to collapse the pram and load it into the boot, then safely strap the baby back in the car, would take more time than a single driver would on their own.

Add to that, the fact that this car park is pebbly, can't be driven out of at any speed, and also involves weaving around pedestrians, and a road at the end that you cannot just drive out onto without stopping, it is surprising that the car actually did leave within the 11 minutes allowed by the BPA's agreed amendment from 2015. No contravention occurred, clearly a fair 'observation period' then a fair 'Grace period' was not allowed and the PCN was not properly given.

Tower Road, Newquay (ParkingEye)

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